Back in November, by an overwhelming majority, U.S. voters sent a loud message to Congress and President Bush that they wanted an end to the military fiasco in Iraq. Recently, polls consistency have shown that an overwhelming majority of Iraqi citizens want the U.S. out of their country. And while the masses have spoken, our dangerous, delusional war-mongering psycho-in-chief went before the nation Thursday night to announce his latest hair-brained scheme: to create an enduring relationship and permanent military presence in the war-ravaged Middle Eastern country. Instead of talking about ultimately bringing the troops home and ending our occupation, Bush essentially promised never to leave, Korea-style. I truly think the man has lost his mind. In his desperation to salvage his legacy--inextricably tied to this debacle--he's becoming more stubborn, more delusional and more dangerous than ever. He also seems to be attempting to run out the clock, leaving the war for the next poor sucker to deal with.

It's infuriating how Bush has now painted a picture of two great Democracies--America and Iraq--standing up side by side to battle the brutal enemy that threatens to destroy them both: Al Qaeda. For Pete's sake, Iraq is no ally; no friend of the U.S. The fact is, the Iraqi government is closer in ties ideologically to Iran (remember the "Axis of Evil?") than it is to us. For Bush to imply that Iraq is aligned with us in this great battle for the Middle East is a despicable distortion of the realities on the ground.

We also heard how the infamous "surge" is working, but what does that actually mean anyway? Does anyone really doubt that more firepower from the greatest military force in the world could not succeed on some level in overpowering the enemy in a few select regions? (i.e Anbar, Baghdad) But it's only temporary. And it has not resulted in effecting any appreciable political progress there. And until there's political change in that country our military might is only as effective as we remain there. And that's exactly Bush's strategy. He has absolutely no vision or plan for the future in terms of how to truly achieve "victory" (whatever that means), bring our troops home and end the occupation. So he simply perpetuates the war. The longer he keeps it going, the longer he can dupe Americans and pretend that we're making progress; just keep the damned thing going so we never have to leave and face the inevitable.

To be sure, Bush is a pathological liar. He's been lying since 2002 when he first laid the groundwork for this neocon disaster. And he's continuously lied every step along the way since. He's lied over the reasons for war, the progress of the war, his plan for perpetrating the war, his horizon for the war, his justifications for the surge, his assessments of the threats and who the enemy is, and just about everything else. Thursday night was no different.

The president made his speech all about Al Qaeda, which is not the enemy we're fighting, although he'd sure as hell like all of us to believe that garbage again. Just listen to the rhetoric from his latest speech, the same smoke and mirrors from 2002:

If we pulled out of Iraq, "extremists would be emboldened"...and "gain nukular weapons and dominate the region"...it'd be a "humanitarian nightmare"...it would"leave our children to face a far more dangerous world"...that these "dangers can reach our cities, and kill our people"...and that "al Qaeda can gain new recruits, and new sanctuaries"..and that we "must defeat al Qaeda"...."liberating your country from terrorists and death squads...." and that to Americans, "the violent extremists who are targeting Iraq are also targeting you." He mentioned al Qaeda 12 times. Al Qaeda, al Qaeda, al Qaeda. Blah, blah, blah. Enough with this irresponsible, reprehensible deception...the incessant morphing of Iraq into al Qaeda. The reason why Iraq cannot sustain a true Democracy is because the Iraqis themselves don't seem to want it, and are killing each other daily in relentless sectarian violence. It's Sunni/Shiite violence which has paralyzed that nation, not al Qaeda.

"The success of a free Iraq is critical to the security of the United States," Bush said. "A free Iraq will deny al Qaeda a safe haven." But what about Gen. David Petraeus' Congressional testimony this week in which he confessed that we may not be any safer here at home as a result of the war? Doesn't faze Bush one bit. Remember, this is a guy who earlier this week said, "We're Kicking Ass" in Iraq. If we're really kicking so much ass, how come we're no closer toward a U.S. style democracy, and how come instead of pulling out a majority of our troops Bush is now talking about keeping them there forever? Congress, the media and American voters should be outraged, and should be demanding answers.

The war is a miserable failure, which is why Bush has changed the mission almost non-stop since the invasion. Consider this trail:

From the day of the invasion in March 2003: "There's a game plan, a strategy, to rid the Iraqi people from Saddam Hussein and rid his country of Weapons of Mass Destruction...and we're on plan.

May 1, 2003: "Major combat operations have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed....."

Two years later: "We will never accept anything less than complete victory.....we will complete our mission in Iraq...and leave behind a democracy that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself.

Last year: "Our mission is to help the elected government in Iraq defeat common enemies. To bring peace and stability to Iraq and make our nation more secure. Our goals are unchanging. We are flexible in our methods to achieving those goals.

Then May 2, 2007: "Either we'll succeed, or we won't succeed. And the definition of success, as I've described, is, ya know, sectarian violence down."

June 28: "It's a new mission, David Petraeus is in Iraq carrying it out. Its goal is to help the Iraqis make progress toward reconciliation. To build a free nation that respects the rights of its people, upholds the rule of law, and is an ally against the extremists in this war."